Detecting cancer biomarkers (e.g., circulating tumor cells, extracellular vehicles, nucleic acids, and protein biomarkers) is vital for risk assessment and early diagnosis. Nanomaterial-based microfluidic devices have recently demonstrated great potential in fast, sensitive, selective detection of cancer biomarkers. This review aims to summarize the advances in a wide range of microfluidic systems for cancer biomarker detection incorporating different dimensional nanomaterials, namely zero-dimensional (e.g., metal nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, and quantum dots), one-dimensional (e.g., carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, zinc oxide nanowires/nanorods), two-dimensional (e.g., graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides nanosheets) and three-dimensional (e.g., metal-organic frameworks, covalent organic frameworks, and nanocomposites). The characteristics and functions of various nanomaterials are overviewed, and recent applications of nanomaterial-based microfluidics in liquid biopsy are highlighted. Current challenges and future perspectives are also presented. Overall, nanomaterial-based microfluidic devices provide powerful tools for cancer biomarker detection and are expected to experience pronounced development in cancer diagnostics and bioanalysis research.

The smaller the scale of the flow channel, the more clear the regulation effect. In this study, the influence of nanomaterials on the regulation of boundary layer during the fluid flow under a microscale flow channel was clarified from the micro-level. The mechanism for displacement pressure decrease and injection increase of nanomaterials was further elucidated, which is important for the application of nanomaterials in tight reservoirs with a low permeability.However, there are relatively few studies on the micro influence of nanomaterials on fluid flow. At the same time, owing to the existence of a boundary layer in the pores of a tight reservoir with a low permeability, the fluid flow characteristics are also substantially different from those under the condition of a conventional-size flow channel. In this study, a porous medium was constructed with glass beads to simplify the physical model, and the variation trend of the boundary layer thickness under different treatment conditions and flow channel sizes was clarified through centrifugal experiments, and a formula that can effectively describe the variation in boundary layer thickness with displacement pressure was established.

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Jenny
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Journal of Nano Research & Applications